How ‘Aquaman’s Villainous King Orm Has Similar Motives to Thanos

At his core, Thanos was just very concerned with overpopulation. He would probably find a kindred spirit with another supervillain slated to arrive later this year with Aquaman. Patrick Wilson, who plays Aquaman’s Atlantean half-brother King Orm, tells EW about his character.

“He’s kind of an eco-warrior,” Wilson says. “He’s got a very clear gripe with the surface world, which has been polluting his oceans for centuries. And that’s something for me — I’m sure for you too — that’s very easy to understand. If somebody was just constantly polluting our air and ruining how we lived …”

Image via Warner Bros.

Gotta save the world by killing it, I guess. To be fair, it’s important for villains to have not just clear motives, but empathetic motives so that the audience doesn’t feel disconnected from the character. And as far as a motive goes, Orm’s is better than Ares’ “I need war because I’m the God of War” from Wonder Woman or whatever the hell Steppenwolf wanted in Justice League (years from now, there’s going to be a trivia question “Who was the villain in Justice League?” and no one will know the answer).

Aquaman marks yet another collaboration between Wilson and director James Wan, who previously worked together on the Insidious and The Conjuring franchises. Wan says of the actor:

“Patrick is such a talented actor and a chameleon as well, he can disappear into any role,” Wan tells us. “Orm’s got a soft spot for his brother who lives on the surface world and if anything just wants him to rule Atlantis and the world together, but his brother doesn’t see it that way. A lot of the clashes they have stem from their different upbringings. So I didn’t want to cast a typical villain actor.”

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